Mahindra to reopen XUV500 bookings, mulls draw for allotment

NEW DELHI: Auto major Mahindra & Mahindra today said it will re-open bookings for its latest SUV model XUV500, for a limited period of 10 days starting January 25 after suspending it last year due to overwhelming response.

The company further said in case bookings exceed 7,200 it will undertake a draw for allotment of the sports utility vehicle (SUV).

"To ensure that our customers do not have to wait beyond a reasonable period, we are undertaking an XUV500 draw, which will ensure fair and transparent allotment of the vehicle to our customers who get selected in the draw," M&M Senior Vice President (Marketing, Automotive Division) Vivek Nayer said in a statement.

The draw process will be validated by the professional services firm, Deloitte Touche Tohmatsu India Pvt Ltd (DTTIPL) as per mutually agreed scope and terms between M&M and DTTIPL, the statement added.

The company said customers will have to pay Rs 80,000 for the XUV500 draw application form. Results of the draw will be announced by February 15, 2012.

The new bookings for the XUV500 will now extend to 19 cities in India, including Chennai, Hyderabad, Kolkata, Ahmedabad, Ludhiana, Jallandhar, Patiala, Chandigarh/ Panchkula, Kochi, Trivandrum, Kozhikode, Trissur, Coimbatore, Nagpur and Nasik, the company said.

After launching the vehicle on September 29 last year, the company had temporarily suspended new bookings in October as four months production of over 8,000 units was sold out within just 10 days. The vehicle was available only in five cities of Mumbai, Delhi, Bangalore, Chennai, and Pune then.

The company has hiked prices of XUV500 in the beginning of this month with its three variants becoming dearer by Rs 30,000, Rs 50,000 and Rs 55,000 (ex-showroom, Delhi) respectively.

The SUV was launched at introductory prices ranging between Rs 10.8 and 11.95 lakh (ex-showroom, Delhi).